HAPPY BIRTHDAY?
by bladescream
Summary: no bleach characters except for three, really sad........ but really a touching one-shot, i'm really proud of it being my first one :D


A one-shot by me. I don't own bleach, but I own the idea of this story. If you like this and you get the chance, view my other story k? It will please me ! Thoughts are expressed in italics. The girls name is Hana meaning flower and the boy's name is Rei meaning law. And of course the setting is Tokyo, Japan. I don't think that some of the facts are straight from the series, but I tried to make it as true to it as possible. Also you can read this story even if you have no idea what bleach is all about, I set it like that. Well enjoy!

* * *

She laid there dreaming while thoughts passed by entering her head one by one. Finally it settled on one thing. She reached out from the shadows, trying to catch the mystery man in front of her. She realizes that she is starting to lose her breath, gasping for air. "One more step, one more reaches and I can finally see who he is". He finally stopped on a small platform in front of her. She climbed up the stairs to meet him. Suddenly a gunshot whipped the silence and echoed in the dark room. He fell where he stood and she reached out to save him. She didn't know why, but she felt that she had to save him. He had a black hood covering much of his face, except his mouth. She opened the hood and then……..

She awoke with a gasp. Startled she looked at her alarm clock. 6:15 showed in bright red letters, echoing its imprint in her brain. She sat there and sighed. Today was her birthday. What's more was that today was the five year anniversary of the death of her sensei. _Wow why was I thinking about this right now?_ The girl hadn't thought about her teacher since he passed away. She kept it all hidden inside of her and now she was thinking about him now? Why today of all days?

Also she thought about her dream just recently. He looked familiar, why couldn't she place him? His manner of walking was oddly enough, his coat was bleached white with an insignia of eight on the back. She thought about it for a moment. Eight, eight, where had she seen that number? Then the thought hit her like a bullet train. She suddenly remembered that her sensei had a coat just like the mysterious man. But no it couldn't be could it?

She shrugged off that thought and tried to think about him. Her child-hood friend from long ago was moving tomorrow and she felt depressed about it. No use thinking about it now though. She had to get ready for school. Dressing up, she went down to the kitchen to meet her mother. She put a pink flower hair clip in her long black hair. Wearing a pink T-shirt and black jeans, she walked to the kitchen table. The mom was sitting at a table, drinking a cup of coffee with balloons on each side of her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANA!!!

"Oh…… thanks for the thought mom, but I just want a really quiet birthday" said Hana.

"Nonsense, it's your birthday you should be happy! Here, put these balloons in your room for later."

"Really? Who were they from anyway?" a surprised Hana said.

"Oh Rei sent it over. He thinks you should have a happy birthday. And he said that you were too slow so he went to school without you. And he also said sorry about it."

Hana sighed. Rei was always like this, although this was the first time that he didn't walk with her to school. She thought this was strange but walked to school alone anyway.

* * *

At school, she saw him standing there waiting for her. He was adorned with more balloons, cake and a present that he had in a bag in front of her. She thought that he looked really silly with all of that stuff around him, almost like a Christmas tree. His red hair, stark white shirt and baggy jeans looked out of place. He was lanky for a 17 year old, and was always making fun of her name whenever he wanted to. Today was no exception.

"Happy birthday flower-san!!" yelled Rei.

Hana pushed his head down and covered his mouth.

"Sorry I don't really feel like celebrating today. And don't use my nickname, you know that I hate it when you do that" she explained.

"Aww c'mon, flower-san, it's your birthday, why would you be sad? It's your birthday! You shouldn't be depressed. Be happy, and I promise that it's the last time I use your nickname". He just barely missed her book that was flung at him.

"Ha, better luck next time Hana" he said mockingly running away.

Hana went up to a random guy and asked him a question. "Hey mister. How much money to hit that guy running away from me just now?" she asked. "What? thats a strange question to ask someone you just met isn't it?" "Forget it" she said, "I'm going to try and hit him anyway"

A large book flew across the street finding its target dead center in the back. Rei cringed as he collapsed to the floor withering in pain. "Smart move not betting" she said happily, walking over his unconscious body and up the last flight of stairs in the same time that the school bell rang.

* * *

All school day, time passed by with no-one noticing it was her birthday. Not even her homeroom teacher, Mr Kibishii, (means strict by the way), seemed to notice her supposed day of celebration. She had no other friends besides Rei, and neither did he. They were best friends for life and nothing could separate them, even if he teased her a little too much with her name. That's one of the main reasons why she was sad today; it was because it was Rei's last day here.

Lunch-time couldn't have come sooner; she was dying to eat something. When she got to the cafeteria, she saw a humongous line stretching out farther than she could see. She quickly looked for Rei and found him at a table by himself sulking. She called to him and he quickly changed his mood, offering her a seat next to him.

"Talk about depressing, you look like you were sad for a moment. Anything you want to talk about?" she said as she took the seat next to him.

"Nothing to ever dampen my spirits. It's just with me leaving and everything, I guess I would kind of miss you" he muttered.

"Awww Rei's got a heart! How sweet, you care about me." she squealed.

"Please forget about what I said. What I am interested in is why you are so sad today. It's your birthday. If it's about me moving away, you shouldn't feel sad, because it's going to make me sad. And you know how I don't really like to feel sad." he droned on.

"Oh you want to know why I feel sad. It's really nothing at all. It's just a small thing. I really don't feel like talking about it" she explained.

"Ok I understand". He knew her long enough to know when she didn't want to be bothered in general. He suddenly stood up; it happened so fast that she almost fell off of her seat. "Hey. Watch this, maybe it might make you laugh for once today"

He walked over to Mr Kibishii who was eating his pudding cup and chatting with the other teachers. "Mr. Kibishii, Mr. Kibishii!! Come quickly! Someone outside is drawing graffiti on the walls in the biology lab. The other teachers and Mr. Kibishii quickly rush over with pads of paper and pens in hand. As soon as they walked out of the cafeteria, he locks the door and smiles a smug smirk. (AN: Lame prank I know, but it's really hard to think of a funny prank in a cafeteria setting)

He looked back, hoping for his accomplishment to take effect. All he saw was a sad lonely smile, knowing for a fact that she was going to miss him even more.

* * *

After school, Hana walked home by herself, again for the first time without her life-long companion. Since the teachers came back, he had to spend after-school in detention because of his misdemeanor. She laughed loudly now, realizing that he sacrificed an hour and a half trying to make her smile. He really was a good friend. She should apologize for getting him into that kind of situation. Her mother just then called her on her cell phone, needing milk to help her make the cake for her daughter.

She went to the local market where a friendly store clerk helped her find what she needed. "Anything else?" he asked in his most polite voice. She eyed a pair of matching rings made out of rubies that shined in the light as they glittered from the window display. There were symbols of a Japanese flower on the emblem of the front of each of them. "Uhh yeah, I guess I'll take those", she said pointing to the set in front of her. "Ah a wise choice, shall I gift-wrap it for you and your boyfriend?" he inquired. "Umm I don't have a boyfriend it's just for a friend hahaha….." she laughed airily. The store-keeper eyed her suspiciously, but then changed his expression as he handed over her purchases. "Thank you and come again!" he called out to her as she walked out of the door.

Hana sighed as she walked home. She still didn't understand why he had to go to that big of a risk and get detention. This was all her fault. Now she decided to finally tell him about her mentor. She didn't know why she would keep a secret from him; she just didn't feel like her teacher would have liked it that much. His motto was, to keep secrets because everyone kept secrets and secrets are a part of who you are. She sighed, as she wondered about her sensei for a moment. He really didn't tell her that much about what and why she was being taught these things. After her father had to go to the United States for an indeterminable amount of time ever since she was born, he took his place as her father. Now she found that she thought of her teacher as more of a father than her actual father, which was strange because all her life she wanted to know her father. Now she wanted to tell him that, but she still remembered that day.

* * *

Flashback- 7 years ago

"Very good Hana! You are learning well"

They were practicing Judo and various forms of martial arts. He had just been sweating very hard, but she in fact did not feel tired at all.

"Let's take a break", he gasped. "This old man can't take much these days"

She was about to say something but then stopped. He didn't look that old in her mind, at first glance she would guess his age at forty. He had many scars lining his face, but he still wore a proud smile. He was roughly six feet tall and well stocky built. His arms were built like tree trunks and he wore a battle ragged kendo suit.

"Well now, you should be able to take on your old man now. He wasn't much of a fighter as my pupil too." he said.

She frowned at the thought of her father; she hadn't talked about him for a while.

"Don't talk about my father like that. If he abandoned me when I was little, he's not my father anymore. You're more of a father to me more than he ever was", pulling him together into a warm embrace.

He pulled her away gently and explained to her in his most calming voice: "Hana, your father had a very good reason for running away from you and your mother. He left me in charge because he felt that he owed you that much. Please try and understand. He didn't want to leave you by yourself; he always wanted the best for you. One day I'll tell you why he left, until that day, please don't judge him ok?"

He patted her on her back and gave her a warm hug.

"Now shall we try this again?"

She smiled and stood up ready to face her mentor.

End flashback- present time

* * *

She sniffled as she held back a few tears. _You didn't come back. You didn't tell me why he left. Now you disappeared as well as my father. You broke your promise, so now I will break mine. Since you couldn't tell me what happened to my father, I can continue to hate him even more. I hate you father._

She was walking down a street unfamiliar to her. Passing by a television store, she heard the news report blaring across the street from her:

_Reports of the notorious spy, Kumori (shadow) have been finally captured by the armed forces today. However it was a minor accomplishment, because under a lie-detector test he was found to have been working for a higher spy network whose sole purpose is to bring down the Tokyo government. We now go live to our correspondent who has more details..._

Thinking about the spy, she thought that whoever captured Kumori was sought out to be a huge hero. Before he was captured, Kumori sent spy secrets to the Soviets and made millions off of it. Now after eight months, he was finally captured and the police officer didn't even want to be shown. She wanted to be just like the officer, humility and smarts to catch anyone who stood a chance in breaking the law.

She sighed and shuddered. _When did it get dark? She could have sworn that it was only five-thirty. Surely it couldn't have gotten this dark this fast. And how did it get colder._ She shuddered as she pulled her jacket closer around her body. She turned the last corner before she reached her house and gasped. The milk spilled around her in a puddle, but she didn't care about it anymore.

What she saw in front of her will never go away from her mind. Directly in the middle of the street, was what appeared to be a demon dog? He stood about seven feet tall and fifteen feet in length. He was unlike the normal dog, especially with its three heads looking back at her intently and with four tails which were literally snakes; it wasn't hard to see why. A huge hole settled itself on his chest and the dog panted as if he was just recently finishing off a meal. What unnerved her most though was his humongous jaws. A crimson mass was collected in a small puddle at the dog's feet, and he looked as if he wasn't full yet.

She stared at the dog and the dog stared back, this happened for about five very long minutes. It was as if the dog was deciding on whether or not she was about to become his next victim. Then they both moved at the same time. She ran away from her house into a neighboring district she didn't know about. While running she bumped into her childhood friend, Rei. "Hana? What are you doing here? It's not safe in this district." Not wanting to answer him, she quickly grabbed his wrist and made him follow her. Too scared to turn around to see if he was following she sprinted into a dark alley.

Finally she risked a glance behind her, and gasped. The dog was no more than a few feet away from her. She backed away and suddenly tripped over a trash can. Turning around to only look at a dead end and her friend next to her looking at the giant in horror, she gasped and immediately fainted. The last thing that she saw was a very interesting sight. Her friend had discarded his school uniform supporting a very interesting looking butcher knife.

* * *

Two hours later-

She awoke and looked around her. She was still in the same ally, except lying down. She looked to the left and saw the same trashcan she tripped on earlier, still overturned. She looked to the right and almost fainted again. Her friend was standing over her, checking to see if she was alright. Instead of the normal school clothes that he wore that day, he had changed. Now he wore a black robe, covering everything including his feet. The insignia of eight was stitched into a sash, covering his chest starting from his right arm; the suspicious looking butcher knife was discarded next to the corpse of the demon. _Wait, the demon died? How did this happen? Don't tell me Rei fought him off? No can't be possible. I've known him since we were kids and he never told me that he had any ounce of swordsmanship. What's going on?_ She turned to look up at him and felt something wet on her forehead. She moved her hand and removed it to discover blood on her hand.

"Here let me get that for you." he reached out towards her head, with a handkerchief in hand. She backed away as soon as he made a move.

"No! Get away from me! Who are you and what have you done to my friend?" she shrieked out.

"It's me. Trust me I can explain the weapon and my change in clothes later. Right now I need to clean that cut on your head." He tried to clean her head again, but was met with the same result as last time.

"Ahh get away from me! Are you like that demon dog also? Just coming over to finish me off? What a sick trick, pretending to be my childhood friend. Come out and face me, you coward!" she yelled out at no one in particular.

"Hana, come on. Stop screaming, it's really me. Look I can prove it. Do you remember that one time we went down to the river together? We went sailing and got caught in a riptide. I was ok, gasping for breath on the side of the river, but you were still caught in the same current. I ran in to save you and it took a lot out of me. Back then, we promised each other that if one of us got into any danger like that again we would save each other no matter what. Now its kind of hard to save you from blood loses if you don't let me help you, now quit running away!"

She stopped running away, amazed at his memory, it happened a really long time ago. Even she didn't remember just until now. She let him clean her head and bandage it for ten minutes. Then finally he helped her up.

"Is it ok to stand, Hana Chan?"

She nodded dumbly and then asked the question that was on her mind, "What happened back there?"

He sat down on a box motioning for her to do the same. Then he started explaining, but at first he asked a question that completely took her off-guard, "Do you know what happens when you die?"

She gasped at his absurd question, and yelled back at him, "What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I don't know. No one on earth knows, not even you."

"That's not entirely true, and please lowers your voice so I can explain". She didn't say anything so he took it as an opportunity to continue. "I do know what happens when you die. You are turned into a soul and your body walks the earth. That happens if you have done more good deeds in life than bad. If you have been mainly bad, you get turned into something like that" here he motioned to the demon dog, "anyway, you are either a soul or a hollow like that dog there. The souls of the world go to a place called soul-society, while the hollows go to hell. The people who regulate this are called Soul-Reapers or Shinigami. There are 13 royal divisions in Soul-Society, and together they control everything that happens when you die. I am a part of the thirteen royal divisions, the eight actually. I know that it's a lot to take in, but you have to believe me. I didn't want to tell you because I didn't know how you would take it. Say something?" He gasped; it was really hard to say it with one breath.

She pondered all of this at first and then burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" he inquired.

"Nothing" she said, "it's just how do you expect me to believe that? Hollows and shinigami and everything? It's just absurd, it can't be true. If that were true then wouldn't you be dead? And how come no one else can see these hollows?"

He thought about this at first and then explained. "I think it's because you have such a high level of spirit power for a human. That explains why you can see me now and how you saw that dog over there."

She thought her friend was kidding. "Just how is this even remotely possible? Show me something, like take me to this Soul Society"

"Really, you want me to take you there?"

She nodded half believing him, half wondering what he would do. She didn't have to wonder long however as she felt a strange tugging motion affecting her body. It felt as if she were flying, towards the sky higher and higher. She looked up; she could almost make out the moon which was coming closer to Tokyo. Then a final tug and she collapsed on the ground. She gasped at what she saw.

* * *

All around her was a palace of pure white. It looked like an academy of soldiers with many different ranges of weapons sparing with each other. It all looked so surreal to her.

"What is this place?" she gasped out loud.

"I told you. It's Soul Society. Believe me now?" he said with a grin on his face. He couldn't tell her how much it amused him at her amazement.

She turned around to him suddenly looking serious for a second.

"What do shinigami do anyway?"

She was all in wonder at her lifelong friend. She still couldn't believe this was possible.

"Well basically shinigami cleanse the souls on earth to send to soul society. And they also dispatch of hollows so that they can't harm citizens like yourself" he explained.

She thought long and hard about this. Five minutes followed this, full of uncomfortable silence, except for the metallic clink of the shinigami sparing against each other. Finally she asked the question that had been on her mind since the beginning.

"Can I see someone here?"

He looked shocked at this, but then pondered this for a second.

"Sure" he chirped out, "Let me speak to my captain first"

He led her down into the palace and navigated through the halls. All around her were portraits of famous looking people; most of them were strong and looked like they could tear apart a truck. She then looked at her friend's arm more closely noticing the eight on his arm. Eight eight, where have I seen that number before? Then it dawned on her, it appeared in her dream. She was about to ask him about it when he suddenly announced that they were here.

They walked into a compact office where at the very center was a man on a table. More like sprawled out on the table, it appeared to her. He wore a straw hat, and had a pink garment with flowery designs covering it. He suddenly hiccupped and sat up when his sub-ordinate entered his office.

"What can I do for you, Rei-kun?"

"Umm I need a favor Shunsui-taichou, (captain). My friend here wants to see someone who might have appeared here. Do you know where the records are?"

"Oh sure, I can ask Ukitake. By the way nice catch Rei. You really are becoming a man huh?" He tried to casually come on to the terrified human, who quickly went behind her friend.

"Umm taichou, could you not do that? You are going to scare her away."

His face fell slightly. "Of course of course. Ill lead the way to Ukitake." He starts running but didn't notice that the door was closed. He promptly smacked into it with a dull clump. Plummeting straight down, he stared at the ceiling with a drunken grin.

"Don't worry I'll show you where to go, follow me, it appears Shunsui can't follow left from right when he's this drunk. Shame that he's always this drunk."

"Oh thanks, Nanao-san."

A lady came out of the shadows looking very much like a librarian, especially since she carried a textbook looking too heavy for her. She motioned them to follow her and they complied.

* * *

A short walk followed later, where not much talking happened. Finally, they appeared in front of the Squad Thirteen headquarters. Inside, sitting on the computer was a sickly looking man of pure white hair. Hana gasped at the fact that he looked very similar to her sensei, except he did not have scars covering his face.

Ukitake smiled as they came in. "What can I do for you Nanao and Rei?"

Nanao explained that they needed to see the records of souls coming into soul society.

"No problem", Ukitake said. "Who is she by the way?"

Rei explained his friend and her situation.

Ukitake said, "Oh nice to meet you Hana, my name is Ukitake and I'm going to help you find who you're looking for. Now what's this person's name?"

Everyone turned to look at Hana who was lounging in a corner. When all eyes were on her, she blushed and muttered a name that no one could hear.

"I'm afraid that you are going to have to speak up dear. I wont know who to look for then." Ukitake went up to her, but she cringed at the seemingly familiar man in front of her.

Ukitake in his most calming voice said, "Its ok. We all lose people special to us in our lifetimes, but if you want to see them again, I'm afraid that I need a name from you."

"Meiyo" she muttered. Rei gasped when he heard this. "Your teacher?" he exclaimed. He never talked with her about it, mainly because he knew it was a tough subject to talk to her about.

"Meiyo huh? That's a really good name. Doesn't it mean honor?" She nodded glumly, so he didn't press the topic any further. Ukitake searched and searched, but he couldn't find her sensei.

Ukitake said in a sorrowful voice, "I'm sorry Hana-san. It appears that I couldn't find him in the data base. It's very likely that he's still wandering in the real world."

She sobbed and ran out of the room, with Rei running to her comfort.

* * *

Outside of the walls of Soul Society-

Rei finally caught up to her. "What's wrong?" he asked "Come on we can still find him right? Lets just go back home, you mother is probably missing you."

"Why isn't he on the list? Is it possible that he's a hollow just like the dog?" she sobbed out.

"You heard Ukitake. He's probably right. Come on lets go home. Besides I can't wait to eat some of your cake!" he said with a smile.

She sniffled and playfully pushed her friend. This didn't cheer her up that much. Her friend's happy attitude usually made her smile, but this time was one of those special times that he couldn't make her happy. She thought about this a little longer. However, she thought that he was right though. He was probably waiting for her in the real world. She felt better by this thought.

"Let's go home." Hana said.

* * *

Back in the real world-

The two friends stepped out into the light. It was eight thirty on the clock next to them. Hana gasped. Rei thought that she was surprised by the time. He explained that they had plenty of time, after all her mom was expecting her at nine. But he quickly learned that she wasn't looking at the clock but at a soul thirty feet ahead of them. Not any soul however, it appears that it was……

"SENSEI!!" Hana yelled as she ran up to give her mentor a huge hug. However since he was a soul, she passed through him. It felt cold to her, unlike her teacher. He turned around and was caught completely off by how she could see him.

"Teishi, (student)! How can you see me? Oh my god, did you die also? DAMN IT!! I swore that I wouldn't let this happen. Why me, why did this happen?" he would have ranted on and on, but his pupil silently stopped him. He turned to look at her better.

She calmly explained her unusual power to see spirits and introduced Rei to him. He shook his hand and thanked him for looking after her. He looked relieved and heaved a big sigh.

"You have no idea how much it means for me to see you again. It's been too long. How have you been? How's your mother? How have your grades been in class? Tell me all about it." Hana looked happy and would have probably told him everything, but Rei stopped both of them from saying a word.

"You have spent too much time here sir. We must get you back to Soul Society. It's a wonder that over-exposure to the human world hasn't turned you into a hollow yet", Rei explained. Hana looked livid, but she did have to admit that her master had far too many scars and his clothes looked very ragged. Her sensei sighed and accepted this fact. He calmly asked him to perform konso (spirit burial), so that he could go into the sprit world. Before Rei raised his sword however, Hana stopped him.

"Sensei, I have just one question to ask of you."

They both stopped and stared at her.

"What is it teishi?"

She took in a deep breath and calmly selected her word choice before finally answering him.

"What was the real reason my father left me?"

He looked a little shocked at the question, but then sighed. It was no use; he thought to himself, he did owe her the truth. Besides, he had a very limited time on this plane anyway. He solemnly explained her family history that was so denied by her, all those years ago:

"When you were young, about three years old, your father was working on a huge case for the government. Unfortunately, the people he was investigating in found out what he was doing and threatened to kill you and your mother. So he proposed a trade: he traded his knowledge of the Japanese government in order to save both of you. He soon got away from their custody however, and since then he has been trying to catch them in the act again. He feared going back, because then you would have been put in danger again. So he's been spending all this time looking for him. His most recent accomplishment I believe was catching Kumori I believe? So that's it. It's the whole story, and I hope that you won't be mad at him anymore". He smiled sadly at her, his face begging her to forgive both of them.

Hana's mouth was beyond open with amazement. An uncomfortable time passed by, until Rei broke the silence and suggested that they get him moving.

"Well, we should get you back then sir."

"Yes, I should go, shouldn't I? I'm sorry about these tragedies that have happened to you and the fact that I kept that secret from you, your loss of a father must have been harsh. But even with everything that has happened, I hope that you visit Soul Society with Rei." He smiled a trademark smile that always made her laugh.

She muttered that Rei would be moving tomorrow so that she couldn't go even if she wanted to. He looked sad but then accepted this fact. She ran up to hug her teacher, mentor and father as hard as she could. She didn't care about the cold; it was the thought that counted. He smiled and whispered to Rei that it was time.

"Good bye sensei"

"Good bye Hana"

He disappeared as Rei swept down, clutching his sword and bringing the hilt down in front of his head. She fell on the ground, looking at where her only father figure in life once stood. He disappeared with his smile still hung, never disappearing from her mind and soul.

Hana got up and looked at Rei, with a sense of sadness. Then suddenly she ran up to him and hugged him with all her might.

"What's with this?" he exclaimed.

"Thank you Rei. For everything you have done"

He felt his robe dampen and then he noticed that she was crying. He hugged her back, with equal force, and sighed in her ear. No longer was he the comical one of the two, now he felt grown up, no more was he going to tease her about her name. They stood there in an awkward embrace. Then she suddenly remembered the rings. She broke off of their hug and took both of them out of her jacket pocket giving one to Rei.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Silly. It's so that you never forget me when you move away. Both of us will promise that we will never take these off until we meet each other again." she explained.

"You're really silly you know that? How could I forget you? And isn't it your birthday? Usually I'm supposed to give you a present."

She smiled and shook him playfully on his shoulder.

"You're silly. You already gave me the best present ever. Getting that off of my mind helped me in more ways than you could have thought of."

"Ok fine then, it's a deal. We won't take these off until we meet each other again. Count on it!" he smiled as he took her hand.

* * *

They set off towards their houses. His was across the street from where she lived. The walk there was uncomfortable, at best. Finally they stopped in front of each of their houses and looked at each other again. Finally they gazed at each other for the last time.

"Thank you for the birthday presents Rei. It was everything that I ever wanted."

He smiled and kissed her cheek "No problem Hana-chan. Happy birthday."

Wow phew. That took forever. Please leave comments? It was my first one-shot about this kind of subject. Ok then, even if you don't, thanks for reading!


End file.
